1915] The Ottawa Naturalist. 95 



My first excursion into the "Sand Hills," where the hawks 

 reside, was in early June, when in company with two of my 

 brothers, I was fortunate enough to run across three nests. The 

 first of these, which I shall call No. 1, was situated in a dwarf 

 oak (Quercus macrocarpa), the tree being some 14 feet in height, 

 and the nest about 8 feet from the ground in its bushy limbs. 

 In the nest were five eggs of the usual blotched type, and sitting 

 upon them was a bird which was very loath to leave. It, how- 

 ever, rose on our close approach and rapidly soared skywards. 

 When well out of reach it was joined by a companion and uttered 

 shrill shrieks of defiance. The second nest was located about three 

 miles from the first, and some five miles. from home. This, un- 

 like the first, was situated upon the point of a hill which rose 

 some 20 feet above the surrounding level. This hill, however, 

 was by no means isolated, there being numerous others round 

 about, some of them actually higher, its only advantage in com- 

 parison being that it reached more of a point at one end where 

 the nest was placed. The nest itself was of a decidedly bulky 

 nature, being built of large sticks, with smaller ones and some 

 bark as a lining. In this were seven eggs, the greatest number 

 I have ever observed in one nest, the usual number being four, 

 and not infrequently one finds only three. The third nest, like 

 No. 1 , was situated in a dwarf oak growing this time at the bottom 

 of a hill. It contained no eggs, though a few green leafy boughs 

 in it showed that its builders had recently been at work. This 

 nest was about two and a half miles from No. 2, and on account 

 of its distance from home was not again visited. 



On June 2 7th I visited the first two nests for the second 

 time. No. 1 now had some downy young in it, two striped 

 gophers (Cetellus iridecemlineata) and one gray gopher (C Rich- 

 ardsonit). No. 2 harboured five young and one "egg, the young 

 being half grown, though of different ages as usual. They were 

 curious fluffy fellows, having a mixture of down and feathers, 

 the latter being chiefly confined to the wings. They all opened 

 their beaks as I approached, and the largest, as if guardian over 

 the rest, did his best to defend them and frighten me away. In 

 this nest half a gray gopher was the only available food. 



On July 4th I was again in the vicinity, and found No. 1 

 nest with the young still present, and that their hunger had been 

 recently appeased was evident from the presence of two un- 

 touched striped gophers in the nest. In nest No. 2 the young 

 were still unable to fly, though three had made their way some 

 distance along the hill. I returned these for the sake of a photo- 

 graph, and they made very little effort to prevent my handling 

 them. Curiously enough, there was still but one of a pug- 

 nacious nature, and he, as previously, seemed to consider himself 



